Fan for suction cleaners



Dec. 28, 1948. E. A. FRENCH FAN FOR SUCTION CLEANERS Filed Jan. 6, 1945Patented Dee. 2s, 194s FAN FOR SUCTION CLEANERS Edward A. French,Chicago, Ill., assignor to Blrtman Electric Company, a corporation oflinois Application January s, 1945, serial No. 571,573

15 claims. (ci. 23o- 130) This invention relates to an improved fan foruse in suction cleaners or the like, and relates particularly to such afan that is simple in construction, efficient in operation, and cheap tobuild.

In the ordinary suction cleaner the suction is maintained by means of amotor driven fan that draws the air through the' article to be cleanedand directs the dust-laden air into a dust collector. These fans must belight in weight but are also required to be of sturdy construction andto be capable of supplying a strong, steady current of air'withoutexcessive attention. In the past such fans have ordinarily been ofrather complicated structure, having sets of rotatable plates and ixedblades that were oftentimes difficult to assemble and maintain introuble-free operation. I have invented a fan that is of much simplerconstruction than the previous ones and that can be manufacturedefllciently under mass production methods. This fan, although ofrelatively simple construction, is Very eflicient and is practicallytrouble-free.

The invention will be described as related to the typical embodimentshown in the accompanying drawings. section taken through the center ofthe fan, and is speciiically a section along line l--i of Fig. 2. Fig. 2is a transverse vertical section through the fan, and specifically is asection taken along the line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

The fan illustrated comprises a housing i0, a motor i8, two sets ofrotatable blade assemblies ii mounted on a single unitary hub i2 afxedto the shaft, and a iixed blade assembly i3 positioned between therotatable blade assemblies. The shaft iii of the motor i8 is held insubstantially vibrationless position by means of a bushing i5 fastenedto a partition I8 extending across the fan housing l0. In order toprovide for the free flow of air, the ilxed blade assembly I3 has acentral opening il through which the unitary hub i2 extends.

The hub of this fan, being of one piece construction, has a decidedadvantage over those made in two or more assembled sections. The new hubis much lighter in weight and is more economical to construct.

The fan has an inclosing housing lil of generally oval shape intransverse section, as shown in Fig. 2. This oval housing has the majoraxis of the oval substantially parallel to the door and the oval istruncated at the bottom. The truncated portion is designed to provide aiiat base It for the fan housing. The rotatable blade assemblies il havediameters slightly less than the shortest Fig. 1 is a longitudinalvertical transverse internal dimension of the housing. This providesreduced air space at top and bottom, but because of the oval shape ofthe housing suflicient space for free circulation of air is provided atthe sides of the housing. Such an arrangement produces a more compactstructure and one that is more pleasing to the eye without reducing thefans efficiency.

The xed blade assemby I3 consists of a partition extending transverselyfrom wall to wall of the housing, and upon which the blades 2l aremounted. The xed blade assembly is arranged so that there is one betweeneach two consecutive rotatable blade assemblies. In the embodiment shownthere are only two rotatable blade assemblies i i and one xed bladeassembly I3, but more of both could be provided if required. Both therotatable blades and the fixed blades have each' blade of an arcuateshape, and curved in a direction opposite to the direction of intendedrotation..

The fan housing and xed blade assembly which is attached to the housingare split in a horizontal plane passing substantially through the centerof the motor shaft (indicated at 22). This split divides not only thehousing and the partition upon which the fixed blades are mounted, butalso divides two of the five ixed blades. Therefore, where there areilve blades three of them ywill have inner ends on one side of thesplit, while the other two inner ends of the blades will be on the otherside of the split. Such a construction is shown in Fig. 2. Because ofthis split construction the housing may be made in two pieces, the splitfixed blade assemblies fastened in proper arrangement to these twopieces, and then the housing and blade assemblies are brought togetheraround the rotatable blade assemblies. This simplifles construction andmakes it much easier and simpler to assemble the fan.

When the rotatable blades of the fan are rotated air is drawn through afront opening 22, is forced out toward the periphery of the rst set ofcurved blades, and is there guided back toward the center by the iixedblades 2 i. The air then progresses through the opening il in the iixedblade plate, where it is seized by the second rotatable blade assemblyand again forced out toward the periphery. The air then flows throughholes provided in the partition i6 that supports the bushing and on outaround the motor. Thus it can be seen that although the fan is of quitesimple construction it is capable of providing a steady, ecient, andstrong current of air.

Having described my invention in relation to one embodiment, it is to beunderstood that the invention is not to be limited to this embodiment,but rather is to be construed broadly within its spirit and scope as setout in the accompanying claims.

I claim:

1. A fan of the type used in suction cleaners comprising a generallyoval-shaped housing with the long axis of the oval arranged inhorizontal position, a plurality of rotatable blade assemblies,

a ixed blade assembly between each two consecutive rotatable bladeassemblies and held by said housing, and a single unitary hub connectedto a motor shaft and upon which the rotatable blade assemblies aremounted. i

2. A fan of the type used in suction cleaners comprising a generallyoval-shaped housing with the long axis of the oval arrangedsubstantially in horizontal position, a plurality of rotatable bladeassemblies with each blade of arcuate shape and curved in a directionopposite to the direction of intended rotation, a xed blade assemblybetween each two consecutive rotatable blade assemblies with each iixedblade having substantially the same curvature as the rotatable blades,and a single unitary hub connected to a motor shaft and upon which therotatable blade assemblies are mounted, vsaid oval-shaped housing .beingtruncated on the lower side substantially parallel to the major axis ofsaid oval and with the blade assemblies being slightly smaller indiameter than the shortest internal lateral dimension of said ovalhousing.

3. A fan of the type used in suction cleaners comprising a housing, aplurality of rotatable blade assemblies, a xed blade assembly betweeneach tw-o consecutive rotatable blade assemblies and held by saidhousing, and a` single unitary one-piece hub connected to a motor shaftand upon which the rotatable blade assemblies are mounted, said housingand each of 'said fixed blade assemblies being split in one continuousfiat plane.

4. A fan of the type used in suction cleaners comprising a housing, aplurality of rotatable blade assemblies, a xed blade assembly betweeneach two consecutive rotatable blade assemblies and held by saidhou-sing, and a single unitary one-piece hub connected to a. motor shaftand upon which the rotatable blade assemblies are mounted, said housingand each of said Vxed blade assemblies being split in one continuousflat Diane with the plane passing substantially through the center ofsaid hub.

5. A fan of the type used in suction cleaners comprising a housing, aplurality to rotatable blade assemblies, a iixed blade assembly .betweeneach two consecutive rotatable blade assemblies held by said housing andcomprising a partition extending across the fan chamber with blades Imounted thereon and having a center air passage opening, and a singleunitary hub connected to a motor shaft upon which the rotatable bladeassemblies are mounted with the hub extending through the center openingof each of the xed blade assemblies, said housing and each of said xedblade assemblies being split in one continuous flat plane with the planepassing substantially through the center of said hub.

6. A fan of the type used in suction cleaners comprising a housing, aplurality of rotatable blade assemblies, a xed blade assembly betweeneach two consecutive rotatable blade assemblies held by said housing andcomprising a partition extending across the fan chamber with blades estinternal lateral dimension of the oval housing.

mounted thereon and having a center air passage opening, and a singleunitary hub connected to a motor shaft upon which the rotatable bladeassemblies are mounted with the h-ub extending through the centeropening of each of the fixed blade assemblies, said housing and each ofsaid ilxed blade assemblies being split in a continuous fiat horizontalplane passing substantially through the center of said hub.

7. A fan of the type used in suction cleaners comprising a generallyoval-shaped housing with the long axis of the oval arranged inhorizontal position, a plurality of rotatable blade assemblies, a xedblade assembly between each two consecutive rotatable blade assemblies,and a single unitary hub connected to a motor shaft and upon which therotatable blade assemblies are mounted, said oval-shaped housing beingtruncated on one side substantially parallel to the major axis of saidoval and the rotatable blade assemblies being slightly smaller indiameter than the short- 8. A fan of the type used in suction cleanerscomprising a generally oval-shaped housing, a. plurality of rotatableblade assemblies, a xed blade assembly between each two consecutiverotatable blade assemblies, and a single unitary hub connected to amotor shaft and upon which the rotatable blade assemblies are mounted,said oval being truncated on one side substantially parallel to themajor axis of the said oval and the rotatable blade assemblies eachbeing slightly smaller in diameter than the shortest internal lateraldimension of the oval housing oppositev they said rotatable blade,assembly.

9. A fan of the type used in suction cleaners comprising a. housinghaving the shape in transverse cross-section of a closed curve flattenedon one side with the shortest internal dimension being from the attenedside to the opposite side.

a plurality of rotatable blade assemblies within the housing, a fixedblade assembly between each two adjacent rotatable blade assemblies, andhub means upon which the rotatable blade assemblies are mounted, each ofsaid rotatable blade assemblies being slightly smaller in diameter thanthe shortest internal lateral dimension of the housing opposite saidrotatable blade assembly.

10. A fan of the character set out in claim 9 wherein the housing andeach of said xed blade assemblies are split in one plane.

11. A fan of the character set out in claim 9 wherein the housing andeach of said xed blade assemblies are split in one plane with the planepassing substantially through the center of said hub means.

12. A fan of the type used in suction cleaners comprising a housing, aplurality to rotatable blade assemblies, a fixed blade assembly betweeneach two consecutive rotatable blade assemblies held by said housing andcomprising a partition extending across the 'fan chamber with bladesmounted thereon and having a center air passage each two consecutiverotatable blade assemblies' held by said housing and comprising apartition extending across the fan chamber with blades mounted thereonand having a center air passage opening, and a single unitary hubconnected to a motor shaft upon which the rotatable blade assemblies aremounted with the hub extending through the center opening of each of thexed blade assemblies, said housing and each of said iixed bladeassemblies being split in a continuous fiat horizontal plane passingsubstantially through said center opening.

14. A fan of the type used in suction cleaners comprising a housing, aplurality of rotatable blade assemblies, a single unitary hub upon whichthe rotatable blade assemblies are mounted, and a fixed blade assemblybetween each two consecutive rotatable blade assemblies and held by saidhousing, said housing and nxed blade assembly being split in a planepassing through the hub to permit arranging the housing and ixed bladeassembly around said hub in assembling the fan.

15. A fan of the type used in suction cleaners comprising a housing, aplurality of `rotatable blade assemblies, a single unitary hub uponwhich the rotatable blade assemblies are mounted, and a fixed bladeassembly between each two consecutive rotatable blade assemblies, andheld by said housing, with the fixed blade assembly being provided withan opening around said hub for the passage of air, said housing and xedblade assembly being split in a plane passing through the opening topermit arranging the housing and xed blade assembly around said hub inassembling the fan.

EDWARD A. FRENCH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record 1n the le ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Great Britain May 21, 1925

